This is HailMary.dec, or as I like to call the list: 50,000 Volts Straight to the Nipples. This list is inspired by Tryno and ISBPathfinder's cooperative list. While my own game plan has begun diverging greatly from theirs much credit goes to them for tinkering with and figuring out ways in which this useless little goblin can be put to use. I wanted to create this thread in order to discuss Squee and the way I am using him. Namely, discussing Squee as the commander of a mono red storm list.
Before we take a look at the list I'd like to talk about why this deck wins. Not how it wins, hopefully you'll gain a sense of how reading through the post, but why it wins. In order to do that we have to address the elephant in the room: Why Squee?
We're going to go about answering this question in two ways. First by asking: Why notSquee, i.e. who can we use instead? And second by investigating what Squee actually offers us.
Why not Squee?
Neheb, the Eternal Neheb is probably the best non-Squee commander for this list as it stands. His potential to create huge surges of mana is invaluable to a storm turn. I would probably suggest a few alterations to the deck such as cutting out parts of the goblin package as well as some of the more limited cost reduction effects in favor of group damage effects. Price of Progress, Acidic Soil, and Pyrohemia are all good options here. You're probably also going to want a couple of ways to protect Neheb via artifacts, so things like Darksteel Plate, and theboots. Hammer of Nazahn is a new one from c17 that I find myself wanting in decks with high-profile commanders like Neheb. Neheb packs a lot of power, and in mono-red this can be a serious liability. Outside of artifacts red just doesn't have many ways of protecting a highly impactful creature such as Neheb, so I've always found commanders like this too glass cannony for my tastes. My biggest recommendation for a deck like this is to expect Neheb to eat removal spells, and have a plan for when he's not on the board.
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage My current Squee list stemmed originally from an artifact heavy Jaya Ballard control list. Jaya is an excellent commander and, if you're looking into building mono-red control, one that I would highly recommend you check out. Again you're going to need some protection artifacts to keep the hate off Jaya. My favorites were Plate, theboots, and a sneaky set of magebane armor to keep Jaya from killing herself with her "ultimate." Make friends with a blue mage at the table, because you're not going to be able to do everything yourself. And make sure you study up on Weebo's Primer. Jaya is a very fun, political commander for those looking for mono-red control.
Daretti, Scrap Savant If you're looking for a more artifact centric take on mono-red spell-slinger Pathfinder has a nice post here. Daretti's minus is excellent for recurring artifacts that are good in spell-slinger such as Pyromancer's Goggles, Mirari, or Primal Amulet, and his plus makes sure your hand is always filled with gas. Personally I have two issues with Daretti. First of all, this list was born from Jaya which utilized artifacts heavily and when I retooled my list I decided to move away from artifacts and more towards pure spell-slinger/storm. Second, is that Daretti draws a lot of hate. This is a recurring theme for a lot of mono-red's most popular commanders, and in my opinion red just doesn't have a lot of options available for protecting those high profile creatures.
Purphoros, God of the forge/Krenko, Mob Boss If you're looking for a more standard goblin tribal list these two are probably a good place to start as far as commanders go. Krenko will make sure you have a constant supply of goblins, where as Purphoros will give you reach beyond the combat step. Both are pretty scary and garner well-earned fear, but Krenko is going to require a lot more protection the Purphoros because of the lack of indestructible. Similar to the other commander options Krenko is difficult to protect and also loves eating removal. Purph less so, but he will scare people and they will focus you. They both feel pretty linear to me as well, i.e. land commander --> produce tokens --> ??? --> profit, but I don't know maybe that's just my experience of playing against them.
Why Squee?
This deck is a kind of ridiculous and a bit of a meme deck and choosing Squee for our commander is somewhat meant to reflect that. However, during my testing Squee has proved to have many subtle, yet legitimate, advantages over other mono-red commanders.
Card Analysis: In this section I'm going to look at the cards individually and via packages, why I run them, why they work in the deck, and alternatives you can use.
Goblins
At only 17 creatures this deck could hardly be considered a tribal deck. That being said, it does run a fair number of goblins. This is mainly because they are cards I would want anyway that just happen to be goblins (Guttersnipe, Chemister), or because they are are cards that work well with what Squee is trying to do (Warchief, Sharpshooter). Then there are the goblins in here meant to support the rest of the package (Matron, Krenko).
Lets Take a look:
Skirk Prospector A must have for any Squee list, and quickly becoming one of my favorite goblins. Primarily it is a sacrifice outlet that also functionally reduces the cost of Squee by one. Can act as a ritual if enough goblins are on the field, and in the late game you can sacrifice any goblins that are no longer necessary to help clinch the mana necessary for the winning play.
Dark-Dweller Oracle Let's us sacrifice Squee and generate card advantage. Can also sacrifice any of the random token that this deck loves to litter everywhere.
Goblin Sharpshooter Another great goblin for Squee. Offers limited removal, but that's not really why he's here. Functionally he can act as a sac outlet for Squee, as he will untap if you use him to kill Squee. He can also be a win con if we get enough bodies on the field, the probability of this happening is greatly increased for every copy of Insult we can get active in a turn. Also makes a great target for Heat Shimmer, especially if we can copy shimmer a couple of times.
Goblin Warchief Again, a goblin that Squee just generally wants. The cost reduction is the main ability we're after, and mostly for Squee but reducing all our other goblins is also appreciated. The haste is generally not a factor but it does help a couple of goblins, namely Krenko and Sharpshooter. The chief can also be nice to have around for Empty the Warrens, to enable some big attacks the turn you cast it.
Guttersnipe The incremental damage is nice, especially on storm turns. Works great with Insult and co' to snipe down the whole table with nice chunks of damage. Good with Neheb, the Eternal to refund our mana on second main phase, which works better the more opponents you have.
Izzet Chemister Any graveyard recursion I can get my hands on in mono red is pretty great. This guy is a little fragile, and probably not something you want to jam turn three, but if you play him right you can get your mana's worth. He's good at chaining extra turn spells, especially because after you cast spells off him they go to the grave and can be past in flamesed. If he manages to stick on the field for a bit he can inflate your storm count for a small amount of mana.
Squee, Goblin Nabob I mean, how could I not play him??? In all seriousness though he's pretty good in the deck. He can be discarded to any number of filtering effects, he is a goblin, and he's best friends with Skullclamp
Goblin Matron Only 9 other goblins in the list, but they're good enough to warrant running a tutor. Don't really know what else to say to be honest.
Krenko, Mob Boss When you cast Krenko, even with just a few other goblins on the field, one of two things happen. He eats some removal, or he eats all your opponents. The card gets out of hand quick, and while he's certainly not game plan number one, goblin beats makes a great backup plan. Even just a few activations will turn prospector into a ritual which can drastically improve a storm turn. Also Skullclamp...
Goblin Trashmaster Sac outlet for Squee and repeatable artifact destruction that can be tutored out with Matron. Won't always have a target which turns it off as a sac outlet, but if we can get Darksteel Ingot on the field with it we can keep targeting it to sac Squee repeatably.
Siege-Gang Commander Comes along with some bodies, is a sac outlet for Squee (though quite an expensive one to be real), I dunno just a nice all rounder I guess. Might get the axe at some point.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers Really good card imo. Is tutor-able with matron and really unlocks your graveyard. Also four is a non-zero amount of damage, especially when it's getting multiplied by 4 or even 8 with insult and co'.
If you want to up the goblin count, or even just go full tribal Goblin Recruiter and Goblin Ringleader are good places to start. Moggcatcher might be good too, but it's a little slow imo. Also if you're wanting to go full goblin tribal/dip more into the red zone with stuff like Shared Animosity or Coat of Arms there are much better commanders available for that.
Hail Mary according to urban dictionary: "A last ditch effort"
This is my favorite package in the deck, and one I have found to be much, much more effective than I thought it would be. As it turns out, taking extra turns is incredibley powerful... who woulda thunk. You'll notice an exclusion of sundial of the infinite in my list which, by all means you should run... if you're a scrub. In all seriousness though, my philosophy, for those interested, is that stealing turns from people is a waste of their time. No one wants to sit here and watch me goldfish during time that should have been theirs. So, if I'm going to do it, I'm either going to win and we can move on to game two, or I'm going to lose and be punished for my greed. That's just me though, if you're more comfortable with a sundial in the list then please, put it in there (or just don't run these cards to begin with but trust me, they're worth it).
Glorious End This card is really good. Mostly because of things people say after you state "I have a response" to an X=14 Torment of Hailfire. They will ask you with a scoff "what do you have a counterspell in mono red?" and you will look them in the eyes and say "Yes" and it will feel amazing. Not only is this card a catchall *counterspell, when cast on an opponents upkeep during a 1v1 situation it can also serve as pseudo extra turn spell.
*Terms and conditions may apply: The card exiles all spells and effects on the stack thus getting around non counterable spells, but as such it is not great at protecting your own spells from countermagic. If countermagic is a problem in your meta I would recommend adding Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast to your list.
Final Fortune Again, this card is really good. A two mana extra turn spell that doesn't cost $30,000 and isn't banned in commander? And it's at instant speed? The downside is steep, but if you're casting this card you should already have a plan for that, or it is literally your last ditch effort for staying in/winning the game. Speaking of plans, here are the three ways you can not lose to Final Fortune: 1) Win the game, obviously. 2) Cast good ole' glorious end. 3) Take enough extra turns to ultimate Karn in order to restart the game, and not have to deal with that pesky trigger.
Reverberate and Co'
These cards are... explosive. Many would say that perhaps they are all a bit "winmore" but I disagree, these cards, specifically in combination, are what allow you to win. Chaining them together and finding ridiculous combinations is where the power, and fun, of this deck lies. Three, four, five, or even six copies of one spell is pretty par for the course and often how you will end the game with this deck.
Copy Spells:
Reverberate Classic and versatile. Can be used to copy counter-magic to protect your spells, can be used on opponent's spells, or can just be used to power up your own big finisher.
Howl of the Horde Quickly becoming one of my favorites. Raid is very easy to trigger with Squee around, and doubling your spells twice gets out of hand quick. In combination with other copy effects you can very easily get four or six copies of whatever big finisher you have planned.
Mirrorpool This card is underplayed imo. I usually use the first ability, however the second can be incredibly useful in the right situation. While the abilities on this card are a little pricey, the opportunity cost for playing it is next to zero. We're mono color so we don't need to worry about color fixing, and it's one of three lands that enter tapped which isn't even that big of a deal for this deck anyway.
Primal Wellspring Of all the effects this is the hardest one to turn on, but once it gets going it is very nice. Being able to copy a spell every turn will build up value incredibly quickly. The other side, Primal Amulet, is also nothing to scoff at, cost reducers are very good in this deck.
Payoffs:
Commune with Lava When played correctly this card can be very powerful. Some things to keep in mind: It is instant speed, and the cards stick around until your next end step. When cast to dig for a specific spell make sure you leave the mana up to cast that spell should you find it. Doubling this card just makes it that much better, and it often allows you to see the better part of your deck during your storm turn.
Jaya's Immolating Inferno The legendary requirement is pretty easy to fill with Squee around. This card will finish games especially when combined with a couple extra copies and or Insult
Insult // Injury I ******* love this card. It will steal you games out of nowhere. Let's do some algebra real quick. When calculating extra copies of this spell the formula is pretty simple: 2^X where X is the number of copies you have active. 3 copies active? 2^3=2*2*2=8. 4 copies active? 2^4=2*2*2*2=16. Now all the sudden your lightning bolt is doing 3*16=48. 4 copies is not difficult to achieve with Howl and all the graveyard interaction I've jammed into the list. 48 damage is insane, people will not see it coming. Seriously, just try this card. It is so good, and so satisfying.
Heat Shimmer Another underplayed card imo. It is incredibly versatile being able to copy your stuff or your opponents. With additional copies it gets crazy, even when just looking at your own creatures. 3-4 extra copies of Guttersnipe? Incredible. Flayer? that Squee damage is going to build fast. Sharpshooter? Ping all the things. It's counterintuitive, but casting a couple copies of this on Krenko will pump your goblin count massively out of the blue.
Mana Geyser And of course. Who could forget about the ole Geyser? Sometimes you just need some mana.
I would like to get a couple more copy effects in there. Notably, Fork (which is pricey) and Bonus Round (which seems too ridiculous to pass up lmao). If you don't want to run this package, then honestly I'm not quite sure what to tell you. This package is kind of the point of the deck.
Storm Package
The list only runs two actual storm cards, the reason I call it Squee Storm is because often, the turns you win play out like storm turns play out. The list also runs quite a few cards that you are probably used to seeing in storm lists. While "spellslinger" might be more apt, I already created the thread and I'm not sure I can change the name now lol.
Support Cards:
Squee, the Immortal Squee actually does something here! With a sac outlet he becomes three mana: increase your storm count by 1. Not great but with a cost reducer it's a bit better. If we can get a cost reducer and Prospector on the field then it's just one mana to increase your storm count by one, which is not too bad at all.
Neheb, the Eternal Really good at making mana. Storm likes a lot of mana. He's also really good at blocking, and getting in for attacks. You could run him as your commander... if you're a scrub. Just kidding I will discuss him and other potential commanders eventually.
Ruby Medallion The best of the cost reducers. Comes down on two, reduces everything. 10/10 would cast again.
Primal Amulet It's a bit pricey and it only reduces for instants and sorceries, but the payoff for flipping it more than makes up for these downsides. Worth noting too that you don't have to flip it when it reaches four counters, you can keep it on the amulet side for a bit if you want to keep the cost reduction effect.
Recoup Graveyard recursion in mono-red, yes please. It's a little limited but currently my list is at 21 sorceries so this card has no trouble finding a target. Both our storm cards and many of our finishers are sorceries and this card is quite useful in getting multiple uses out of them. Also has flashback so I think technically that's card advantage of +1.
Past in Flames More graveyard recursion! This is the classic storm piece, and allows you to burn through resources, and then re-burn through those resources. Honestly this one card is probably a lot of what makes mono red storm viable at all. Also has flashback itself so that's neat.
Payoff Cards:
Young Pyromancer Puts a body on the field for each instant and sorcery we cast, and is best friends with the ole' clamp. I'm going to get my hands on an Ashnod's Altar soon enough and Young P-Z here will be much better with that addition.
Charmbreaker Devils Expensive, chaotic, kinda bad. Just how I like my red cards. In all honesty though this card is actually much better than it looks. The random bit is rough sometimes but I believe in the heart of the cards. Also during your storm turns he can get very large, definitely don't forget to get him into the red zone from time to time.
Empty the Warrens Good storm card. Can be used as a finisher, or just a value cast with storm count of like 4 or 5. Loves clamp and Krenko. With Prospector on the field it can be a ritual, refueling you with mana necessary to keep storming off.
Ignite Memories Haven't gotten a huge amount of testing with this card but it seems pretty nice. Honestly Grapeshot is probably better, and you could even run both if you're into that kidna thing, but I believe in the heart of cards and so I will take the high-variance option thank you very much.
If you're looking to expand this package more storm cards is probably a good place to start. Grapeshot, as mentioned above, could do some work. If you're going for more of a red-zone goblins list Ground Rift and Haze of Rage are options to look into. Haze is something I've looked into for this list as it is a way to pump storm count as well as whatever bodies I might have on the field, but ultimately I think it's too expensive for my purposes. If you're into MLD Volcanic Awakening is definitely a good finisher. In terms of non-storm cards, I've been thinking about Mizzix's Mastery cause it seems... insane. But overloading it is hella expensive, and doesn't play too well with reverberate and co.
Card draw and Filtering
Historically mono-red has struggled for card advantage in EDH. However, in this fresh year of 2018 there are actually plenty of options and tricks available to fulfill your card advantage wishes. This is no blue deck, and there is no way to get around that, so we have to take what we can get but it's not all bad. Particularly in this deck which doesn't commit a lot of resources to the board, I generally don't find myself wanting for more card draw.
Solemn Simulacrum Staple card is staple card. Ramps, draws a card, good all rounder. Doesn't interact with much of the list but he's nice to have in here for now, might get the axe at some point.
Runehorn Hellkite I really like this dragon. The effect costs more than Reforge, but only by one, as this list has no way to reliably trigger miracle. The dragon can be activated at instant speed too which is a huge upside as it allows you to use it the end-step before your turn giving you first access to the new grips. It's great to have in the deck as a tutor target when you late game top-deck a Gamble. The card is also a nice flying beater/blocker which the deck is kind of lacking.
Skullclamp Good card is good card. With Squee it becomes a four mana divination, which honestly, imo is one of the biggest incentives for running Squee as your commander. Just don't be surprised when this card eats a removal spell lol.
Hazoret's Monument Great with Squee. Reduces cost and gives us a rummage every time we cast him. If it sticks around it allows us to see a large portion of the deck during the course of the game.
Burning Inquiry Bad card is bad. Probably play something like Wild Guess here instead. But turn one Inquiry has to be one of my favorite plays, and can really throw a wrench in your opponent's plans. Also, have I mentioned that I believe in the heart of the cards? Because I believe in the heart of the cards :p.
Faithless Looting Cheap looting that lets us draw cards before we discard. 10/10. Can also be cast from the graveyard so technically it breaks even on card advantage instead of being -1.
Tormenting Voice/Cathartic Reunion Good cards that let you see more of your deck. Be careful, people love to counter these spells, and when they do it will feel bad. The discard is part of the cost so if you copy them you get to draw more without having to discard more so thats neat.
Outpost Siege This one is interesting. Drop it early on khans and have a card advantage engine. Drop it late game on dragons and have a win con. Lets you play lands so thats neat. I usually like to wait a bit after turn four to drop it, just so we have mana up to cast anything it might exile, but if you have nothing else going on turn four is a fine time to play this card. Sometimes if it exiles a card I know I'll want later, I'll cast that card just to get it in the graveyard instead of letting it be exiled for the rest of the game.
Vance's Blasting Cannons Similar to Siege. Comes down early as a card advantage engine and flips late game to be a win con. Also a colorless wincon, so gets around stuff like Seht's Tiger, small bonus I know but it's worth keeping in mind. You can't play lands off the Cannons so thats less neat, but once it flips it ramps you so I guess we're even on the neat scale.
Throughout the course of the game I don't find myself committing too many resources to the board, and therefore don't find myself running out of gas too often. Usually the strategy is sit around and wait. When you do finally go off though you tend to fly through all the resources you have built up in your hand and graveyard. If you find yourself wanting for more card draw, artifacts are a good place to look: The Immortal Sun, Mind's EyeStaff of Nin. I've also left out a few wheel effects which I find too slow but might be more up your alley: Reforge the Soul or Magus of the Wheel.
Walkers
In general, I dislike planeswalkers, which is why you'll only see three in my list. Mostly due to their over-saturation in the story and on the cardboard. I also feel like my dislike for Atraxa Superfriends - and the lazy, good-stuff, deckbuilding it promotes - bleeds over onto planeswalkers a bit. But these ones are special, and red (one only in spirit, but if Karn Liberated had a color he'd have to be red flavor wise riight?).
Jaya Ballard Long ago (2010) my parents bought junior-mage-astro_man Premium Deck Series: Fire and Lightning for Christmas. I loved it. My friend would only let me play it against him once per day because it was so much better than the kitchen table decks we were brewing at the time. A few years later (2015) I was itching to build a new commander deck, after dabbling in the format for about a year or so. Digging through my collection I stumbled upon Jaya Ballard, Task Mage and knew what I had to do. Jumping on to the forums I found Weebo's Primer and studied up on mono-red EDH. I assembled what I could out of my collection, and instantly fell in love. A few months ago (April) I bought a fat pack of Dominaria, I pulled Squee and not much else. I had already been thinking about retooling my mono-red list with a different commander but it wasn't until a month later that I would pull the trigger on this project. I was in target buying some things when I decided to pick up a pack of Dominaria, and who should I pull but Jaya Ballard. I knew what the heart of the cards was telling me. That day I decided I would build Squee-Storm, and I haven't looked back. Oh yeah also, she's good in the deck. Both pluses are relevant and if we ever to get ultimate it's "Welcome to Value Town, population: Us"
Karn Liberated Good card is good. Is one of two ways this list has to interact with enchantments so thats neat. Chaining extra turns into his ultimate is also fun (and will likely result in a win via opponents scooping).
Chandra, Flamecaller Chandra is very versatile. Her +1 can actually add a decent amount of pressure, also interacts well with Neheb and Insult. Here 0 is actual card advantage in mono-red so thats pretty neat. And her -X is there for when you need to wipe the board. She's a little pricey, and might become a Torch of Defiance at some point (especially if I can get my hands on that spicy new art).
Like I said I usually run pretty walker-light. If you want to add more please feel free. Koth has a pretty nice ritual effect on him. Tibalt seems like he could do work here... Lol just kidding pls don't flame me. New Karn also seems dece, but idk I'd rather spend $35 elsewhere to be honest.
The Rest
The rest of the cards that haven't been mentioned in the above packages. These are the standalone utility cards that make the whole deck go round. Here is probably also where there is the most flex in terms of cutting and testing different cards, however a few of these cards are very good for Squee.
Non-Lands:
Burnished Hart Good ramp spell. Was better in the deck when there were more artifact synergies and so it might get swapped for different ramp at some point.
Flayer of the Hatebound Very good card for Squee. With him and a sac outlet it makes every cast of Squee turn into a ping for two damage. With enough mana this can be a win con. A trick that I like: with Flayer on the field cast Squee from your graveyard and target Flayer with the damage, Flayer will un-die and come back to deal five damage to whatever you need to kill.
Lightning Bolt Will go in every mono-red deck I ever build. People think it's bad and that's part of the reason it's so good. Also Bolting someone for 48 with the help of a couple Insult Is possibly the most satisfying way I have ever killed someone in this format.
Chaos Warp Enchantment removal in mono-red. 10/10 would cast again. Sometimes the flip can be rough but in general getting rid of whatever you need to get rid of is worth the risk. If someone ever flips the card I warp I think I might just scoop on sight.
Burn Away Graveyard hate is hard to come by in mono-red, and this card has more interaction with the rest of the deck than some of the artifact based hate. Also, 6 is a non zero amount of damage, it will kill things. Need to test it more to see if it is worth it over something like relic
Shattering Spree If there's one thing mono-red is good at doing, it's blowing up artifacts. This is my favorite way of doing it, but feel free to substitute with whatever you have on hand/whatever your favorites are. If you're playing in a meta with lots of artifact decks I would recommend Vandalblast, in my own meta I don't usually want to blow up more than five artifacts anyway though. I generally try to be conservative with my removal usage in the deck because if you start getting hated on you will die pretty quick generally.
Gamble Unconditional tutor for one mana. The discard is rough but I promise this is a good card. If you choose to run it make sure you have cards in the deck that enable you to Gamble even when it's the last card in your hand. So cards with flashback, or my favorite hellkite. Also, have a backup plan for when you inevitably discard the card you tutored for. Sometimes though you just got to believe in the heart of the cards.
Goblin Grenade Similar to bolt but with more damage. The sacrifice cost is really easy to pay with Squee around.
Indomitable Creativity This deck has a knack for getting random 1/1 tokens on the field and creativity is great at putting those tokens to use. Generally don't point this at your opponents things unless you're very desperate/want to do them a favor.
Blasphemous Act Board wipe's are good in EDH. Should probably have a couple more in this list. I had Starstorm in here for a while, but just found myself cycling it away a lot. For now I'm just gonna wing it with the one.
Goblin Bombardment This card is very good for Squee. Sac outlet that also does damage. Also it is not goblin specific so it can be used for any creatures you might have on the field. I think I need another sac outlet in this deck and have been wanting to get my hands on an Altar.
Goblinslide I'm a fan of this card. We have a lot of non-creature spells and the incremental value this card nets you is pretty great. With the amount of cost reducers we have in the deck the extra 1 mana is usually pretty negligible.
Kher Keep Good card for any red list imo. This deck loves having random bodies on the field and the Keep is one of the best ways to do that. Besides not tapping for red mana, the opportunity cost for running this card is very low. A bit awkward that they're kobolds and not goblins but we find uses for them in chumping, bombarding and ole' reliable, just to name a few.
Myriad landscape Not the most efficient ramp, but it makes do. With the small amount of ETB tapped lands we run in the list I'm alright with this being one of them. If that number increases in the future this card might get the axe but we'll see.
Petrified Field I like to have a certain amount of colorless sources in the list for Mirrorpool and this is one that interacts well with that land, as it is able to fetch it from the grave for a second use. Field is underplayed imo.
Temple of the False God Some people like it, some people don't. Been a staple for me in a lot of decks, but recently I've been feeling the urge to pull it out.
Thespian's StageValakut synergies used to be much more key to the deck, thus the Stage. It's just kind of stuck around since those days. Can copy opponent's lands which is nice, but it might come out one of these days.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle No longer a key part of the deck, but it's nice to have in here. The incidental damage is nice when we happen to draw it. Has nice synergy with Neheb.
Path of Ancestry Recent addition. Has been great every time I play it. Enters tapped is a small price to pay for the reward of a scry on every Squee cast.
Jaya's Immolating Inferno-->Torpor Orb I've wanted to try the Inferno for a bit and was able to pick a copy up. I think It will be good as a finisher, especially because of how easy it is to have squee on the battlefield. Torpor orb is kind of a left over from my Jaya list, this list has many more ETB effects and will hopefully have more in the future with the addition of more goblin support such as Goblin Matron
Cuts: Sword of the Animist This card felt much better when Valakut was a main game plan of the deck, but with the removal of Expedition Map it won't be as consistently useful in that situation. Ramping is great in the early game, but this card is a painful top-deck in the late game when you need gas.
Trash for Treasure Basically for all the reasons noted by Pathfinder above. It's pretty narrow especially with this deck moving away from artifact strategies towards more of a storm list.
Heirloom Blade I'm not sure about this cut. It's janky but it's also card advantage in mono red. It can be useful to get goblins out of the deck which often play important roles in our plan. Hopefully I'll get my hands on a Goblin Matron soon enough though and that should be a good substitute.
Anger Again for basically all the reasons stated by Pathfinder above. It can sometimes help with an Empty the Warrens kill, but I think it's usage is too narrow to include in this deck. Which is weird because anger is a mainstay of many a mono-red list, just not this one I suppose.
Goblin Diplomats I really like this art and flavor text but honestly there's not a whole lot more justification for this card in the 99. I mean it does a thing, I just don't know how useful that thing is going to be. He might come back later because he hasn't really come up in any of my games, but we'll see.
Liquimetal Coating Just a bit too narrow. Maybe if I had a few more destroy artifact effects, but with only Shattering Spree, and Vandalblast it's not great. It has been nice to take care of a few problem enchantments, but I think for now I'm just going to have to rely on Karn Liberated and Chaos Warp. It might make a return when I grab a copy of Goblin Trashmaster from m19 but we'll see.
Wild Ricochet Pathfinder was pretty spot on with this one as well, I was kinda using it as just another doubling effect. Not really the kind of deck where we want to be holding up 4 mana. It might make a return but it's also very possible it won't.
Jar of Eyeballs This was a hard cut. It's jank, but it's card advantage jank. I think it's just a bit too clunky to be a part of the 99 though, and in this day and age even mono red has better sources of card advantage than the ole eyeball counters. Faithless Looting card I've wanted in here for a while. I always look for cards that interact well with the graveyard thanks to all the discard synergies in red. More looting is always nice.
Additions: Howl of the Horde I had planned to add Doublecast from m19, when it launched but then I found this card while thumbing through the junk box at the card shop. It seems really good especially because Squee does not mind sacrificing himself to the greater good of a Raid trigger in order to get the full effect of this card. More doubling effects are always nice in this list thanks to how they interact with Insult // Injury which is one of my favorite finishers.
Recoup another card I found in the junk box. Testing it out here, I don't know if it's going to stay, especially with it's restriction to only sorceries, but it seems pretty good. Another card that interacts with the graveyard well, and another card the turns on gamble even when gamble is my last card in hand.
Heat Shimmer, one strategy that's really impressed me is Flayer of the Hatebound especially when I can combine it with Mirrorpool, and this gives me another opportunity to do that, as well as one that can be reverberated. It can also copy opponent's creatures, which is a great up-side.
Tormenting Voice More looting! Another card I've wanted for a minute.
Commune with Lava A card I've wanted to test for a long time, and this seems like the list for it. The cards last until the end of your next turn, so you can either instant speed this on the end step before your turn, or you can do something silly like Mana Geyser into this, then Final Fortune and probably win the game on your extra turn.
Indomitable Creativity Another card I've wanted to test for a while. Great for repurposing myr and goblin tokens, as well as squee. In a pinch it can take care of problem creatures and artifacts on my opponent's boards but this is kind of a risky play.
Mindmoil A final card I've wanted to test for a while. With squee and a bunch of mana it lets me cycle through my deck looking for the cards I need. 5 mana for a "do-nothing" enchantment, but it seems good enough to at least warrant some testing.
Goblin Grenade --> Reforge the Soul. I've wanted to test the grenade for a bit, it seems like it could do some work here. Grenade + Insult // Injury is 10 damage which is... alright, but Grenade + Insult + Reverberate and you're at 20 damage, which is getting pretty spicy. Grenade + Insult + Howl of the Horde gets you to 40 which could really take some players out of nowhere. The downside of saccing a goblin isn't really a downside with Squee always eager to hop into the graveyard, and even beyond that in a pinch we have plenty of other volunteers. As far as cutting Reforge goes, I feel that I have enough card draw/advantage (which seems crazy to be saying in a mono red list, but this deck is much less of a "vomit out your hand every turn list" compared to some red lists) and so it was between reforge and Runehorn Hellkite. Hellkite costs a bit more (a lot more if you count having to cast him first, but if you're doing that you're playing the card wrong) but has several upsides. First and foremost, you can activate him at instant speed out of the graveyard, allowing you to take first advantage of the new grips, as opposed to refueling your opponents and then passing the turn to them. Having it in the deck also means Gamble is not a dead card when you late game top-deck it with 0 other cards in hand. And if you really need a flying beater/blocker he does that pretty well too.
Path of Ancestry --> Mountain. Read Lou's post in the main forum and realized this card is pretty good in here. We don't need it for color fixing but getting to scry 1 on every Squee cast would be worth it alone. The fact that we have so many other goblins makes this card more than worth it. ETB tapped is not a huge downside for this deck, and this is only the second land in my list that does so, so I'm really not worried about that.
Burn Away --> Tormod's Crypt. Burn Away is pretty bad, but it interacts much better with the game plan of this deck than the crypt. It can be Past In Flamesed, reduced by Primal Amulet (and adds a charge counter to the amulet), is instant speed, and deals damage (though not to players) which is cool with Insult // injury. It might be pretty bad but I want to test it.
Goblinslide --> Genesis Chamber. The chamber benefits opponents a little too much. While 1 mana on each of your non-creature spells is a bit of a tax, this card interacts better with Krenko, Mob Boss who I am finding to be very threatening if opponents can't/don't deal with him. When m19 releases I am also hoping to pick up a copy of Desecrated Tomb which will still allow me to get token value off of casting Squee, without benefiting opponents.
Ignite Memories --> Starstorm. Found myself cycling starstorm a lot and wanted another storm payoff besides Empty the Warrens. While, on account of cmc, grapeshot is probably always better, I believe in the heart of the cards. And plus Ignite memories leads to some very climatic wins I feel.
Goblin Matron --> Wayfarer's Bauble. The bauble was much better when this deck's endgame reach was heavily focused on Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, now that that's not the case, I find myself not liking this card as much. The deck isn't super thirsty for land drops/ramp and so I am comfortable pulling this one out. Matron is nice as an additional copy of all my goblins, fetching up pieces as needed. Will also be nice after m19 launches when I can add Goblin Trashmaster as well as Dark-Dweller Oracles.
Goblin Trashmaster --> Vandalblast Trashmaster is repeatable artifact destruction that can also act as a sac outlet for Squee. Can also be tutored up with Matron. The cut was between vandalblast and Shattering Spree, I decided to cut Blast because in my meta I don't often want to cast spree for more than five mana anyway.
Dark-Dweller Oracle --> Mindmoil Oracle seems really good. Repeatable sac outlet that can eat anything, not just goblins, and generates us card advantage. I'm getting enough of these "impulse draw" effects that I might look into adding a Top or Rack at some point. Mindmoil has proved too difficult to play around. It can dig you very deep, especially with the ability to free trigger it with Squee but it's difficult to use well.
Darksteel Ingot --> Hedron Archive Ingot interacts well with Trashmaster, and also adds colorless mana. I've been wanting a cheaper artifact to replace Archive for a minute and with the addition of trashmaster, ingot seems like the move.
When people inevitably ask me: "Why are you running Squee?" My response, as of late, has been "Oh, because he doesn't do anything." I like to cut to the chase and make their argument for them. One because it's funny to see their reactions, and two because it's kind of true. I'm running Squee because he doesn't do anything, he's useless. There are so many creatures that would head this deck more efficiently than Squee, and yet none of them are quite as appealing as this stupid little goblin.
When I picked up Squee, the Immortal as my commander (even to a certain extent when I decided to play mono-red in general in EDH) I kinda threw any chance of a competitive deck out the window. I mean not entirely, this deck certainly can and does win, but if I wanted to play a competitive EDH deck I would probably pick up a few other colors if not abandoning red entirely. But to me that's not what this format is about. Competitive EDH has always been a bit of an oxymoron in my eyes. The format is casual by design, it's chaotic by design, in my view it operates on the idea that everyone who sits down at the table can and should have fun. This deck is just a manifestation of that view, a fun deck full of cards that I like to play, in the color combination that has long been my favorite.
Lets take a look at what "doing nothing" actually does for me and the deck. This deck does not operate well under pressure (and neither do I to be honest), so when I sit down to a table of Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Zur the Enchanter, Baral, Chief of Compliance, and myself it's nice to count on the fact that little ole squee here is going to get overlooked, and for the most part, I will be ignored. Underestimation is a powerful tool indeed, and Squee harnesses that power better than possibly any other commander you can play. Certainly in some games you will get hated out, especially if you play in a dedicated group, but when Zur casts buried alive on turn three fetching his three Praetors, it's hard for anyone to justify focusing their attention on a 2/1 vanilla goblin that costs three mana. My goal in the early game is to simply survive, and I often accomplish this through the overwhelming incompetence that only Squee can bring to the table. This is further supported by the fact that most (not all) of your win conditions exist in the hand/graveyard. You don't do very many scary things to the board state but boy are you capable of storming off when the opportunity is right.
This deck does not win every game, it does not win most games. It has a solid losing record, and honestly, I'm ok with that. In building and playing this deck I have taken a lot inspirations from the ancient Daoist philosopher Zhuang Zhao, who wrote the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi. In which the idea is presented that the actions of those around you should be viewed as forces of nature, things which are out of your control and therefore not worth worrying about. This is how I view a game of commander: The actions of my opponents, and even to a certain extent the performance of my deck, are forces of nature. The sun will shine when it needs to shine and the clouds will rain when they need to rain. My deck will perform when it needs to perform, and windows of opportunity will open when they need to open. If the sun doesn't shine today then it wasn't meant to shine today. If I don't win a game then I wasn't meant to win that game. This philosophy is why I include cards like Burning Inquiry and Gamble, even though they will **** me over at some point or another. And certainly with this deck, win or lose, it is the easiest deck to have a good time with that I have ever played.
Besides playing magic the gathering I sometimes find myself hanging out with friends who would rather play a different card game, many of you probably know what I'm talking about but for those who don't, it's called "Cards Against Humanity." It's a fun party game (improved a great deal by inebriation of some description imo) and one of the cards in it is "50,000 Volts straight to the nipples." The reason this title applies so well to this deck is for the simple reason that currently, this deck is capable of delivering around 50,000 damage in a single lightning bolt. Of course this is a magical christmas-land set up but it's still impressive. So how do you do it? Here are the necessary cards:
Ok so the set up goes like this (It assumes all these cards are in your hand and that Mirrorpool, Petrified Field, and Primal Wellspring are on the battlefield): Attack with a creature --> cast Howl of the Horde off of Primal Wellspring --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. At this point you have 8 copies of Insult active, but the fun doesn't stop there. Petrified Field targeting Mirrorpool and playing it as your land for turn --> Past in Flames --> Howl of the Horde --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. This gets you another 6 copies of Insult for a total of 14. Because math your damage is now multiplied by 2^14 or 16,384. Cast yourself a humble little Lightning Bolt and all of the sudden you've just delivered 49,152 volts straight to the sorry sorry nipples of your unwitting opponent.
This is the deck for now, I will update the thread with games as I play them, and cards as I change them in and out of the deck. Any and all suggestions are welcome, and I encourage you to post your list, so we can compare and contrast and see what others are doing.
Similar in some ways to Heirloom Blade and Jar of Eyeballs, I considered Aetherworks Marvel a few times. Ultimately it might be a lot of rotations of Squee to make it function but the fact that you could save up 1+ use of it and push it at the end step and again on your next turn it could possibly push some good value to play quickly. I ultimately never pulled the trigger on it but its something I do consider now and then. I am not saying that you should run it I just thought I would point out another kind of similar effect.
Assuming you want to spend some money on things, Skred is probably usually an upgrade over Lightning Bolt with the exception that you can't hit walkers with it but the downside is investing in snow lands. Still, it might be something you might want to consider but the cost of such an upgrade can be spendy as Snow-Covered Mountains seem to be about $3 each these days.
Wild Ricochet is something I have always questioned too. It can be a useful card but most of the time its just Fork / Reverberate with a tagged on very niche situation that may be useful vs Naturalize effects. My issue has always been that keeping 4 mana up for several turns in a row with the maybe clause that you might need to redirect one of these in a deck that is not a draw go type of deck. When I am playing Squee I very often don't sit on 4 mana left over because with that much mana I can probably cycle Squee another time instead. I think that Wild Ricochet and in general 4+ mana instants that are reactive are at their best in a deck that plans to sit behind mana when it passes its turn. I say this from the standpoint of how I play my own list though which often involves me purging almost all of my mana every turn if I can help it.
Anger - I don't all that often second guess Anger but the way I see it in this list is that it seems to only really help two creatures in your list whom seem to be Goblin Sharpshooter and Krenko, Mob Boss. What if instead you were to run Vedalken Orrery in that slot allowing you to play at instant speed and thus kind of bypass the need for haste? You could also run lands such as Flamekin Village or Hanweir Battlements which could give you that very limited spot haste you might want to pick up. Winding Canyons could also help provide spot flash in a land slot too if you want. I guess my question is in how many cases does Anger help your deck to function?
Burning Inquiry - I love this card because it is so chaotic and it really messes with people's hands. This said I like it more in decks that utilize cards in graveyards as resources as well like say Kess, Dissident Mage. Given the random elements of it I wonder if it really works out all that well here.
Trash for Treasure - this card is so narrow is my issue. What artifact are you trying to keep in play and what do you think is your chance of having drawn and lost said artifact already? My issue I guess is that half of your artifacts don't seem like I would bother recovering them and so the number of artifacts you would want to recover seems to be maybe 6-10 and then there is the question of with your artifact count can you manage to get another artifact you feel is less useful and use another card to swap them? Ultimately I am left asking why this isn't Goblin Welder at least which is a card with more uses ultimately as you can swap opponents artifacts too. Personally I would rather get away from this effect entirely though as it seems too situational if you ask me.
I won't bother putting plugs for cards I run as clearly you saw our list
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Similar in some ways to Heirloom Blade and Jar of Eyeballs, I considered Aetherworks Marvel a few times. Ultimately it might be a lot of rotations of Squee to make it function but the fact that you could save up 1+ use of it and push it at the end step and again on your next turn it could possibly push some good value to play quickly. I ultimately never pulled the trigger on it but its something I do consider now and then. I am not saying that you should run it I just thought I would point out another kind of similar effect.
I've thought about that, other cards along similar lines are Aetherflux Reservoir, Sentinel Tower, or even Sphinx-Bone Wand though the wand is a little expensive at 7. I like the fact that Aetherworks Marvel provides card advantage, and can be used at instant speed, so definitely one I'll keep in mind.
Assuming you want to spend some money on things, Skred is probably usually an upgrade over Lightning Bolt with the exception that you can't hit walkers with it but the downside is investing in snow lands. Still, it might be something you might want to consider but the cost of such an upgrade can be spendy as Snow-Covered Mountains seem to be about $3 each these days.
Yeah it's a little pricy to go snow-lands, I would probably focus on finishing out the deck first. But also pointing lightning bolts to the face is fun. One of my most satisfying wins came from insult --> reverberate --> past in flames --> insult --> reverberate --> lightning bolt. Which if my math is correct should do 48 straight to the face.
Wild Ricochet is something I have always questioned too. It can be a useful card but most of the time its just Fork / Reverberate with a tagged on very niche situation that may be useful vs Naturalize effects. My issue has always been that keeping 4 mana up for several turns in a row with the maybe clause that you might need to redirect one of these in a deck that is not a draw go type of deck. When I am playing Squee I very often don't sit on 4 mana left over because with that much mana I can probably cycle Squee another time instead. I think that Wild Ricochet and in general 4+ mana instants that are reactive are at their best in a deck that plans to sit behind mana when it passes its turn. I say this from the standpoint of how I play my own list though which often involves me purging almost all of my mana every turn if I can help it.
I think you're right about this one. While it is trying to be a spellslinger storm list I certainly don't think it's a draw-go spellslinger storm list. I would like to get Fork in there but it's pretty pricey so until I get one I'll probably replace Wild Ricochet with Doublecast from m19.
Anger - I don't all that often second guess Anger but the way I see it in this list is that it seems to only really help two creatures in your list whom seem to be Goblin Sharpshooter and Krenko, Mob Boss. What if instead you were to run Vedalken Orrery in that slot allowing you to play at instant speed and thus kind of bypass the need for haste? You could also run lands such as Flamekin Village or Hanweir Battlements which could give you that very limited spot haste you might want to pick up. Winding Canyons could also help provide spot flash in a land slot too if you want. I guess my question is in how many cases does Anger help your deck to function?
Another card that's on the chopping block. The orrery is probably the most natural replacement, but again it's pretty pricey so I might substitute with something else for the time being. The lands are great suggestions, and my mana base in general is something I'll have to look over. Jaya was heavily focused on Valakut, but with cutting down on artifacts a lot of the cards that made it work well are going. I'm gonna look at it and retool it here soon.
Burning Inquiry - I love this card because it is so chaotic and it really messes with people's hands. This said I like it more in decks that utilize cards in graveyards as resources as well like say Kess, Dissident Mage. Given the random elements of it I wonder if it really works out all that well here.
I think a very under-looked aspect of this card is that it can really mess up your opponent's plans. Also dropping it T1 can be hilarious - as long as you don't mind potentially getting hated out that game. Also in this deck there are as many things as I can jam to make stuff like gamble so I figure this card might be worth a slot as well. Also I believe in the heart of the cards :p.
Trash for Treasure - this card is so narrow is my issue. What artifact are you trying to keep in play and what do you think is your chance of having drawn and lost said artifact already? My issue I guess is that half of your artifacts don't seem like I would bother recovering them and so the number of artifacts you would want to recover seems to be maybe 6-10 and then there is the question of with your artifact count can you manage to get another artifact you feel is less useful and use another card to swap them? Ultimately I am left asking why this isn't Goblin Welder at least which is a card with more uses ultimately as you can swap opponents artifacts too. Personally I would rather get away from this effect entirely though as it seems too situational if you ask me.
Another card on the chopping block, left over from the artifact centric Jaya list. Hopefully here soon enough I'll be ordering a nice little pile of cards to retool the list with and take out some of the outdated ones.
Just kicking around a few more ideas and thoughts as I look through your list.
Goblin Diplomats - they seem a little random in here I guess. I guess its possible to force utility commanders to attack. In general though my goal is to not be attacked rather than forcing others to attack.
Heirloom Blade - I ran it myself and while I do think its cool, I guess I will point out that it increases the mana to loop squee and it can only get you goblins which means it will run out of targets if you run it for a while and the utility that it will draw you will be somewhat limited. With some of the new goblins coming in M19 maybe its a little better but I often ran into situations where my goblin package was not what I was looking for.
Jaya Ballard - I think she is cool I just think she is also somewhat similar in nature to Daretti, Scrap Savant. I feel like if I were running Jaya I would primarily be using her for the filter option and I think I like Daretti for being cheaper as well as I think the Trash for Treasure effect of his feels more relevant than RRR for instants / sorcery only.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Got some games in today including my first win with squee as a commander lol
3 player FFA, I win the die roll and turn order is myself then Baral, Chief of Compliance, then Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. I mostly play lands and pass, ramping a little bit with Burnished Hart. I get an early Skullclamp but not much else happens in the early game. Kozilek lands his commander on turn four which is scary, he feels a little bad so he targets Baral's Darksteel Ingot instead of blowing anything up. I cast disrupt decorum to avoid getting annihilated, and Baral fires off Saheeli's Artistry on Kozilek to get a blocker and blows up something on Kozilek's bord. On Kozilek's turn he swings his commander at baral thanks to disrupt decorum, and baral sac's some stuff. At this point I'm feeling a bit outgunned, I play squee and hope for the best. Luckily Baral swings his Kozilek token into Kozilek, but it gets Mystifying Mazeed. Baral fires off a Cyclonic Rift returning Kozilek to hand. I Shattering Spree some artifacts to keep Kozilek off commander mana, and we stall him for long enough. Baral is pretty stuck on lands and at some point I'm able to cast Final FortuneReverberateed with Glorious End in hand to not die to the first extra turn. I get a pretty high storm count and cast Empty the Warrens for 18 goblins, on my next turns I'm able to land Neheb, the Eternal and thanks to him and Mana Geyser I have plenty of mana to go off. I land a Caged Sun to pump the gobos,, and the last obstacle is baral's Propaganda which I take care of with Liquimetal Coating and a Past In Flames'ed Shattering spree, allowing me to swing for the win.
Also made it to a card shop a bit further out of town that had a much better selection of singles and picked up about 10 cards for the deck. Lets start with the cards that are coming out:
Sword of the Animist This card felt much better when Valakut was a main game plan of the deck, but with the removal of Expedition Map it won't be as consistently useful in that situation. Ramping is great in the early game, but this card is a painful top-deck in the late game when you need gas.
Trash for Treasure Basically for all the reasons noted by Pathfinder above. It's pretty narrow especially with this deck moving away from artifact strategies towards more of a storm list.
Heirloom Blade I'm not sure about this cut. It's janky but it's also card advantage in mono red. It can be useful to get goblins out of the deck which often play important roles in our plan. Hopefully I'll get my hands on a Goblin Matron soon enough though and that should be a good substitute.
Anger Again for basically all the reasons stated by Pathfinder above. It can sometimes help with an Empty the Warrens kill, but I think it's usage is too narrow to include in this deck. Which is weird because anger is a mainstay of many a mono-red list, just not this one I suppose.
Goblin Diplomats I really like this art and flavor text but honestly there's not a whole lot more justification for this card in the 99. I mean it does a thing, I just don't know how useful that thing is going to be. He might come back later because he hasn't really come up in any of my games, but we'll see.
Liquimetal Coating Just a bit too narrow. Maybe if I had a few more destroy artifact effects, but with only Shattering Spree, and Vandalblast it's not great. It has been nice to take care of a few problem enchantments, but I think for now I'm just going to have to rely on Karn Liberated and Chaos Warp. It might make a return when I grab a copy of Goblin Trashmaster from m19 but we'll see.
Wild Ricochet Pathfinder was pretty spot on with this one as well, I was kinda using it as just another doubling effect. Not really the kind of deck where we want to be holding up 4 mana. It might make a return but it's also very possible it won't.
Jar of Eyeballs This was a hard cut. It's jank, but it's card advantage jank. I think it's just a bit too clunky to be a part of the 99 though, and in this day and age even mono red has better sources of card advantage than the ole eyeball counters.
Now for the Cards that have been added:
Faithless Looting card I've wanted in here for a while. I always look for cards that interact well with the graveyard thanks to all the discard synergies in red. More looting is always nice.
Howl of the Horde I had planned to add Doublecast from m19, when it launched but then I found this card while thumbing through the junk box at the card shop. It seems really good especially because Squee does not mind sacrificing himself to the greater good of a Raid trigger in order to get the full effect of this card. More doubling effects are always nice in this list thanks to how they interact with Insult // Injury which is one of my favorite finishers.
Recoup another card I found in the junk box. Testing it out here, I don't know if it's going to stay, especially with it's restriction to only sorceries, but it seems pretty good. Another card that interacts with the graveyard well, and another card the turns on gamble even when gamble is my last card in hand.
Heat Shimmer, one strategy that's really impressed me is Flayer of the Hatebound especially when I can combine it with Mirrorpool, and this gives me another opportunity to do that, as well as one that can be reverberated. It can also copy opponent's creatures, which is a great up-side.
Tormenting Voice More looting! Another card I've wanted for a minute.
Commune with Lava A card I've wanted to test for a long time, and this seems like the list for it. The cards last until the end of your next turn, so you can either instant speed this on the end step before your turn, or you can do something silly like Mana Geyser into this, then Final Fortune and probably win the game on your extra turn.
Indomitable Creativity Another card I've wanted to test for a while. Great for repurposing myr and goblin tokens, as well as squee. In a pinch it can take care of problem creatures and artifacts on my opponent's boards but this is kind of a risky play.
Mindmoil A final card I've wanted to test for a while. With squee and a bunch of mana it lets me cycle through my deck looking for the cards I need. 5 mana for a "do-nothing" enchantment, but it seems good enough to at least warrant some testing.
I also picked up a Goblin Grenade which seems like it might have a place here. I want to test it but I'm going to stick with these changes for a few games before adding the ole grenade in.
Small update but relevant. I also added a couple additional sections to the OP.
Goblin Grenade --> Reforge the Soul. I've wanted to test the grenade for a bit, it seems like it could do some work here. Grenade + Insult // Injury is 10 damage which is... alright, but Grenade + Insult + Reverberate and you're at 20 damage, which is getting pretty spicy. Grenade + Insult + Howl of the Horde gets you to 40 which could really take some players out of nowhere. The downside of saccing a goblin isn't really a downside with Squee always eager to hop into the graveyard, and even beyond that in a pinch we have plenty of other volunteers. As far as cutting Reforge goes, I feel that I have enough card draw/advantage (which seems crazy to be saying in a mono red list, but this deck is much less of a "vomit out your hand every turn list" compared to some red lists) and so it was between reforge and Runehorn Hellkite. Hellkite costs a bit more (a lot more if you count having to cast him first, but if you're doing that you're playing the card wrong) but has several upsides. First and foremost, you can activate him at instant speed out of the graveyard, allowing you to take first advantage of the new grips, as opposed to refueling your opponents and then passing the turn to them. Having it in the deck also means Gamble is not a dead card when you late game top-deck it with 0 other cards in hand. And if you really need a flying beater/blocker he does that pretty well too.
Path of Ancestry --> Mountain. Read Lou's post in the main forum and realized this card is pretty good in here. We don't need it for color fixing but getting to scry 1 on every Squee cast would be worth it alone. The fact that we have so many other goblins makes this card more than worth it. ETB tapped is not a huge downside for this deck, and this is only the second land in my list that does so, so I'm really not worried about that.
Another day, another couple of games. Got in three 3 player FFA's today, and while I don't remember all the details I'll try to give some highlights.
Game one was me Edric, Spymaster of Trest pretty standard Flying men, and a Tasigur, the Golden Fang control deck. Things proceed as normal, Edric amasses a pretty scary board state but he keeps hitting Tasigur, I have a Goblin Warchief on the field and Topdeck a Goblin Sharpshooter which leads to wiping the Edric players board. Possibly the most satisfying topdeck I could've gotten lol. At some point I land Karn Liberated and looking at my hand, which contains Final Fortune and Glorious End I decide to go for it. With the help of Izzet Chemister and Goblin Dark-Dwellers I manage to chain together extra turns to Ultimate Karn at which point my opponents scoop and we go to the next game.
Game Two was close, same players but Tasigur switches to Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer stax/pillowforty. We stay alive for a bit but Edric gets too many fliers and takes an extra turn or two which ends up killing us.
Game three was pretty memetic (of or pertaining to memes) Where gwafa lands a Sphinx's Tutelage on turn four that sticks around for the remainder of the game. Things happen, board states get scary, things are milled. At some point I receive the turn with three cards left in my library, and both my opponents completely tapped out. Past in Flames --> Mana Geyser --> Squee, the Immortal --> Jaya's Immolating Inferno for 34. Lucked into that win.
Got some games in the past couple days, and some new cards. Lets start with the changes:
Burn Away --> Tormod's Crypt. Burn Away is pretty bad, but it interacts much better with the game plan of this deck than the crypt. It can be Past In Flamesed, reduced by Primal Amulet (and adds a charge counter to the amulet), is instant speed, and deals damage (though not to players) which is cool with Insult // injury. It might be pretty bad but I want to test it.
Goblinslide --> Genesis Chamber. The chamber benefits opponents a little too much. While 1 mana on each of your non-creature spells is a bit of a tax, this card interacts better with Krenko, Mob Boss who I am finding to be very threatening if opponents can't/don't deal with him. When m19 releases I am also hoping to pick up a copy of Desecrated Tomb which will still allow me to get token value off of casting Squee, without benefiting opponents.
Ignite Memories --> Starstorm. Found myself cycling starstorm a lot and wanted another storm payoff besides Empty the Warrens. While, on account of cmc, grapeshot is probably always better, I believe in the heart of the cards. And plus Ignite memories leads to some very climatic wins I feel.
Goblin Matron --> Wayfarer's Bauble. The bauble was much better when this deck's endgame reach was heavily focused on Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, now that that's not the case, I find myself not liking this card as much. The deck isn't super thirsty for land drops/ramp and so I am comfortable pulling this one out. Matron is nice as an additional copy of all my goblins, fetching up pieces as needed. Will also be nice after m19 launches when I can add Goblin Trashmaster as well as Dark-Dweller Oracles.
As far as games go: I got in a game a few days ago in which I was able to get six copies of Heat Shimmer which all targeted Flayer of the Hatebound. I then sac'd Squee to Goblin Bombardment and recast him targeting the original Flayer, when he un-died (lol) he dealt thirty damage straight to an opponent killing them off, so that was neat. Been really liking Shimmer, it has a lot of utility with my own creatures (I can imagine several Goblin Sharpshooters being scary, or Krenko, Mob Boss - while they don't stick around each copy has haste and can activate in response to any additional copies of shimmer I might have), but can also be used on opponent's creatures. Copying stuff like Reclamation Sage to interact with enchantments seems pretty good to me.
I got some testing in with Mindmoil as well. There is definite power there, but it is also incredibly hard to play well, I might end up taking it out but I want to get in more testing before I decide.
Commune with Lava has been incredible, routinely allowing me to dig 15+ cards into my deck and finish off games I shouldn't otherwise be able to win.
Howl of the Horde and Recoup have been preforming exactly as I hoped they would, adding repetition to the copy spell and graveyard interaction packages respectively.
Indomitable Creativity has been nice the couple times I've cast it though I feel it's true power has not quite been tested/reached yet. It doesn't interact particularly well with reverberate effects, but I want to keep it in as I add effects like Goblinslide and Desecrated Tomb. Might end up getting cut at some point but we'll see.
Some interesting thoughts on Mindmoil and Commune with Lava. I haven't found myself playing much Commune with Lava since it was printed but I can see some potential for it. Mindmoil seems a little crazy given its kind of expensive filtering with some difficulty in controlling it not to mention that it takes sort of a lot of mana to spin it up for the first use.
Some interesting thoughts. I might have to see if I can make some room at some point to try out Commune with Lava.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Some interesting thoughts on Mindmoil and Commune with Lava. I haven't found myself playing much Commune with Lava since it was printed but I can see some potential for it. Mindmoil seems a little crazy given its kind of expensive filtering with some difficulty in controlling it not to mention that it takes sort of a lot of mana to spin it up for the first use.
Some interesting thoughts. I might have to see if I can make some room at some point to try out Commune with Lava.
I'd definitely recommend testing Commune, though there are definite tricks to making it work.
Moil is really interesting, with Squee it's nice because you can cycle through your deck without your hand size diminishing each trigger. In magical Christmas land you can cycle your hand for one red mana (squee + skirk prospector + a cost reducer) however, in general this is going to cost a lot of manna and this list isn't the big mana red deck it once was so I might have to cut it. Again though I would like to get more testing in as it is a very powerful effect imo.
Got a few new cards from m19, still looking for a couple more (Desecrated Tomb and maybe Doublecast). Gave the thread a huge update, with more to come. Sorry to any mobile users, will add a mobile section at some point.
Goblin Trashmaster --> Vandalblast Trashmaster is repeatable artifact destruction that can also act as a sac outlet for Squee. Can also be tutored up with Matron. The cut was between vandalblast and Shattering Spree, I decided to cut Blast because in my meta I don't often want to cast spree for more than five mana anyway.
Dark-Dweller Oracle --> Mindmoil Oracle seems really good. Repeatable sac outlet that can eat anything, not just goblins, and generates us card advantage. I'm getting enough of these "impulse draw" effects that I might look into adding a Top or Rack at some point. Mindmoil has proved too difficult to play around. It can dig you very deep, especially with the ability to free trigger it with Squee but it's difficult to use well.
Darksteel Ingot --> Hedron Archive Ingot interacts well with Trashmaster, and also adds colorless mana. I've been wanting a cheaper artifact to replace Archive for a minute and with the addition of trashmaster, ingot seems like the move.
If you get a chance to test the M19 stuff let me know how it goes. I have held off on ordering anything yet as I think I might show up for a release event tonight and I don't like buying things in duplicate that I don't need. Still, I think I might be able to order tomorrow and get them before next week's commander night.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I think one of my favorite combos I've done with Squee is Squee, the Immortal with Gilded Lotus and Paradox Enginealong with Goblin Bombardment. You cast Squee with Lotus while Paradox Engine is on the field which untaps Lotus. You then sac the nifty goblin to bombardment, and then you retap Lotus to recast it. Rinse and repeat. I took a look at this deck and I really like and I will take a lot of it to remake my deck a bit, but you might also consider this Four Card Combo. The idea of killing Squee over and over again to kill someone is just so ridiculous it's hilarious. I think my favorite reaction was when I played against my friend's Ur-Dragon deck and killed her with this combo. She almost flipped the table.
I think one of my favorite combos I've done with Squee is Squee, the Immortal with Gilded Lotus and Paradox Enginealong with Goblin Bombardment. You cast Squee with Lotus while Paradox Engine is on the field which untaps Lotus. You then sac the nifty goblin to bombardment, and then you retap Lotus to recast it. Rinse and repeat. I took a look at this deck and I really like and I will take a lot of it to remake my deck a bit, but you might also consider this Four Card Combo. The idea of killing Squee over and over again to kill someone is just so ridiculous it's hilarious. I think my favorite reaction was when I played against my friend's Ur-Dragon deck and killed her with this combo. She almost flipped the table.
I'm not a huge fan of infinite combos in general, and try to avoid putting paradox engine in my decks. However, it is a very powerful option if you choose to go this route.
You seem to have a critical mass of Goblins and use of a lot of X mana Mana Echoes seems like it could do a lot of work here. This idea rules I may have to try putting something like this together.
EDIT: Well that was a lot of fun to throw together:
I did not have a copy of either Glorious End or Final Fortune(or its variants) lying around so I went with a different form of Mono-R Hail Mary in the form of the top of this decks curve Hazoret's Undying Fury
Also a side not Zada + Seize the Day is typically only used in a deck with more colors that can provide Vigilance to make a lot of combats very good however if you also have Neheb, the Eternal it will create mana of an excessive degree.
Gemstone Array filters all the Mana Echoes mana that should be generated into a color that can be used better
Your list looks like a ton of fun! I've thought about adding Zada and Mana echoes before but I still feel the creature count in my deck is to small for either. Undying fury is another great haily mary!
I want to go through and update this thread but I've been pretty busy with school recently. I have found a spot for bonus round though because the card is ridiculous haha.
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-Hail Mary Package
-Reverberate and Co'
-Storm Package
-Draw/Filtering
-Walkers
-The Rest
We're going to go about answering this question in two ways. First by asking: Why not Squee, i.e. who can we use instead? And second by investigating what Squee actually offers us.
Why Squee?
This deck is a kind of ridiculous and a bit of a meme deck and choosing Squee for our commander is somewhat meant to reflect that. However, during my testing Squee has proved to have many subtle, yet legitimate, advantages over other mono-red commanders.
The Deck:
3 Squee, the Immortal
Creature (18)
1 Skirk Prospector
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Dark-Dweller Oracle
3 Burnished Hart
3 Goblin Sharpshooter
3 Goblin Warchief
3 Guttersnipe
3 Izzet Chemister
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Goblin Matron
4 Krenko, Mob Boss
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Goblin Trashmaster
5 Neheb, the Eternal
5 Siege-Gang Commander
5 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
6 Charmbreaker Devils
6 Flayer of the Hatebound
6 Runehorn Hellkite
Instant (7)
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Final Fortune
2 Reverberate
2x Commune with Lava
3 Chaos Warp
3 Glorious End
5 Burn Away
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
2 Ruby Medallion
3 Hazoret's Monument
3 Darksteel Ingot
4 Primal Amulet
4 Thran Dynamo
6 Caged Sun
Sorcery (20)
1 Shattering Spree
1 Burning Inquiry
1 Gamble
1 Faithless Looting
1 Goblin Grenade
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Cathartic Reunion
2 Recoup
2x Jaya's Immolating Inferno
3 Insult // Injury
3 Wheel of Fortune
3 Howl of the Horde
3 Heat Shimmer
3x Indomitable Creativity
4 Disrupt Decorum
4 Empty the Warrens
4 Past in Flames
5 Mana Geyser
5 Ignite Memories
9 Blasphemous Act
2 Goblin Bombardment
3 Goblinslide
4 Outpost Siege
4 Vance's Blasting Cannons
Planeswalker (3)
5 Jaya Ballard
6 Chandra, Flamecaller
7 Karn Liberated
Land (38)
0 Buried Ruin
0 Kher Keep
0 Mirrorpool
28x Mountain
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Petrified Field
0 Strip Mine
0 Temple of the False God
0 Thespian's Stage
0 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
0 Path of Ancestry
Card Analysis:
In this section I'm going to look at the cards individually and via packages, why I run them, why they work in the deck, and alternatives you can use.
At only 17 creatures this deck could hardly be considered a tribal deck. That being said, it does run a fair number of goblins. This is mainly because they are cards I would want anyway that just happen to be goblins (Guttersnipe, Chemister), or because they are are cards that work well with what Squee is trying to do (Warchief, Sharpshooter). Then there are the goblins in here meant to support the rest of the package (Matron, Krenko).
Lets Take a look:
This is my favorite package in the deck, and one I have found to be much, much more effective than I thought it would be. As it turns out, taking extra turns is incredibley powerful... who woulda thunk. You'll notice an exclusion of sundial of the infinite in my list which, by all means you should run... if you're a scrub. In all seriousness though, my philosophy, for those interested, is that stealing turns from people is a waste of their time. No one wants to sit here and watch me goldfish during time that should have been theirs. So, if I'm going to do it, I'm either going to win and we can move on to game two, or I'm going to lose and be punished for my greed. That's just me though, if you're more comfortable with a sundial in the list then please, put it in there (or just don't run these cards to begin with but trust me, they're worth it).
These cards are... explosive. Many would say that perhaps they are all a bit "winmore" but I disagree, these cards, specifically in combination, are what allow you to win. Chaining them together and finding ridiculous combinations is where the power, and fun, of this deck lies. Three, four, five, or even six copies of one spell is pretty par for the course and often how you will end the game with this deck.
Copy Spells:
The list only runs two actual storm cards, the reason I call it Squee Storm is because often, the turns you win play out like storm turns play out. The list also runs quite a few cards that you are probably used to seeing in storm lists. While "spellslinger" might be more apt, I already created the thread and I'm not sure I can change the name now lol.
Support Cards:
Historically mono-red has struggled for card advantage in EDH. However, in this fresh year of 2018 there are actually plenty of options and tricks available to fulfill your card advantage wishes. This is no blue deck, and there is no way to get around that, so we have to take what we can get but it's not all bad. Particularly in this deck which doesn't commit a lot of resources to the board, I generally don't find myself wanting for more card draw.
In general, I dislike planeswalkers, which is why you'll only see three in my list. Mostly due to their over-saturation in the story and on the cardboard. I also feel like my dislike for Atraxa Superfriends - and the lazy, good-stuff, deckbuilding it promotes - bleeds over onto planeswalkers a bit. But these ones are special, and red (one only in spirit, but if Karn Liberated had a color he'd have to be red flavor wise riight?).
The rest of the cards that haven't been mentioned in the above packages. These are the standalone utility cards that make the whole deck go round. Here is probably also where there is the most flex in terms of cutting and testing different cards, however a few of these cards are very good for Squee.
Non-Lands:
Sword of the Animist This card felt much better when Valakut was a main game plan of the deck, but with the removal of Expedition Map it won't be as consistently useful in that situation. Ramping is great in the early game, but this card is a painful top-deck in the late game when you need gas.
Trash for Treasure Basically for all the reasons noted by Pathfinder above. It's pretty narrow especially with this deck moving away from artifact strategies towards more of a storm list.
Heirloom Blade I'm not sure about this cut. It's janky but it's also card advantage in mono red. It can be useful to get goblins out of the deck which often play important roles in our plan. Hopefully I'll get my hands on a Goblin Matron soon enough though and that should be a good substitute.
Anger Again for basically all the reasons stated by Pathfinder above. It can sometimes help with an Empty the Warrens kill, but I think it's usage is too narrow to include in this deck. Which is weird because anger is a mainstay of many a mono-red list, just not this one I suppose.
Goblin Diplomats I really like this art and flavor text but honestly there's not a whole lot more justification for this card in the 99. I mean it does a thing, I just don't know how useful that thing is going to be. He might come back later because he hasn't really come up in any of my games, but we'll see.
Liquimetal Coating Just a bit too narrow. Maybe if I had a few more destroy artifact effects, but with only Shattering Spree, and Vandalblast it's not great. It has been nice to take care of a few problem enchantments, but I think for now I'm just going to have to rely on Karn Liberated and Chaos Warp. It might make a return when I grab a copy of Goblin Trashmaster from m19 but we'll see.
Wild Ricochet Pathfinder was pretty spot on with this one as well, I was kinda using it as just another doubling effect. Not really the kind of deck where we want to be holding up 4 mana. It might make a return but it's also very possible it won't.
Jar of Eyeballs This was a hard cut. It's jank, but it's card advantage jank. I think it's just a bit too clunky to be a part of the 99 though, and in this day and age even mono red has better sources of card advantage than the ole eyeball counters.
Faithless Looting card I've wanted in here for a while. I always look for cards that interact well with the graveyard thanks to all the discard synergies in red. More looting is always nice.
Additions:
Howl of the Horde I had planned to add Doublecast from m19, when it launched but then I found this card while thumbing through the junk box at the card shop. It seems really good especially because Squee does not mind sacrificing himself to the greater good of a Raid trigger in order to get the full effect of this card. More doubling effects are always nice in this list thanks to how they interact with Insult // Injury which is one of my favorite finishers.
Recoup another card I found in the junk box. Testing it out here, I don't know if it's going to stay, especially with it's restriction to only sorceries, but it seems pretty good. Another card that interacts with the graveyard well, and another card the turns on gamble even when gamble is my last card in hand.
Heat Shimmer, one strategy that's really impressed me is Flayer of the Hatebound especially when I can combine it with Mirrorpool, and this gives me another opportunity to do that, as well as one that can be reverberated. It can also copy opponent's creatures, which is a great up-side.
Tormenting Voice More looting! Another card I've wanted for a minute.
Commune with Lava A card I've wanted to test for a long time, and this seems like the list for it. The cards last until the end of your next turn, so you can either instant speed this on the end step before your turn, or you can do something silly like Mana Geyser into this, then Final Fortune and probably win the game on your extra turn.
Indomitable Creativity Another card I've wanted to test for a while. Great for repurposing myr and goblin tokens, as well as squee. In a pinch it can take care of problem creatures and artifacts on my opponent's boards but this is kind of a risky play.
Mindmoil A final card I've wanted to test for a while. With squee and a bunch of mana it lets me cycle through my deck looking for the cards I need. 5 mana for a "do-nothing" enchantment, but it seems good enough to at least warrant some testing.
Path of Ancestry --> Mountain. Read Lou's post in the main forum and realized this card is pretty good in here. We don't need it for color fixing but getting to scry 1 on every Squee cast would be worth it alone. The fact that we have so many other goblins makes this card more than worth it. ETB tapped is not a huge downside for this deck, and this is only the second land in my list that does so, so I'm really not worried about that.
Goblinslide --> Genesis Chamber. The chamber benefits opponents a little too much. While 1 mana on each of your non-creature spells is a bit of a tax, this card interacts better with Krenko, Mob Boss who I am finding to be very threatening if opponents can't/don't deal with him. When m19 releases I am also hoping to pick up a copy of Desecrated Tomb which will still allow me to get token value off of casting Squee, without benefiting opponents.
Ignite Memories --> Starstorm. Found myself cycling starstorm a lot and wanted another storm payoff besides Empty the Warrens. While, on account of cmc, grapeshot is probably always better, I believe in the heart of the cards. And plus Ignite memories leads to some very climatic wins I feel.
Goblin Matron --> Wayfarer's Bauble. The bauble was much better when this deck's endgame reach was heavily focused on Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, now that that's not the case, I find myself not liking this card as much. The deck isn't super thirsty for land drops/ramp and so I am comfortable pulling this one out. Matron is nice as an additional copy of all my goblins, fetching up pieces as needed. Will also be nice after m19 launches when I can add Goblin Trashmaster as well as Dark-Dweller Oracles.
Dark-Dweller Oracle --> Mindmoil Oracle seems really good. Repeatable sac outlet that can eat anything, not just goblins, and generates us card advantage. I'm getting enough of these "impulse draw" effects that I might look into adding a Top or Rack at some point. Mindmoil has proved too difficult to play around. It can dig you very deep, especially with the ability to free trigger it with Squee but it's difficult to use well.
Darksteel Ingot --> Hedron Archive Ingot interacts well with Trashmaster, and also adds colorless mana. I've been wanting a cheaper artifact to replace Archive for a minute and with the addition of trashmaster, ingot seems like the move.
I would Like to take a moment to speak on the philosophy of this deck.
When I picked up Squee, the Immortal as my commander (even to a certain extent when I decided to play mono-red in general in EDH) I kinda threw any chance of a competitive deck out the window. I mean not entirely, this deck certainly can and does win, but if I wanted to play a competitive EDH deck I would probably pick up a few other colors if not abandoning red entirely. But to me that's not what this format is about. Competitive EDH has always been a bit of an oxymoron in my eyes. The format is casual by design, it's chaotic by design, in my view it operates on the idea that everyone who sits down at the table can and should have fun. This deck is just a manifestation of that view, a fun deck full of cards that I like to play, in the color combination that has long been my favorite.
Lets take a look at what "doing nothing" actually does for me and the deck. This deck does not operate well under pressure (and neither do I to be honest), so when I sit down to a table of Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Zur the Enchanter, Baral, Chief of Compliance, and myself it's nice to count on the fact that little ole squee here is going to get overlooked, and for the most part, I will be ignored. Underestimation is a powerful tool indeed, and Squee harnesses that power better than possibly any other commander you can play. Certainly in some games you will get hated out, especially if you play in a dedicated group, but when Zur casts buried alive on turn three fetching his three Praetors, it's hard for anyone to justify focusing their attention on a 2/1 vanilla goblin that costs three mana. My goal in the early game is to simply survive, and I often accomplish this through the overwhelming incompetence that only Squee can bring to the table. This is further supported by the fact that most (not all) of your win conditions exist in the hand/graveyard. You don't do very many scary things to the board state but boy are you capable of storming off when the opportunity is right.
This deck does not win every game, it does not win most games. It has a solid losing record, and honestly, I'm ok with that. In building and playing this deck I have taken a lot inspirations from the ancient Daoist philosopher Zhuang Zhao, who wrote the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi. In which the idea is presented that the actions of those around you should be viewed as forces of nature, things which are out of your control and therefore not worth worrying about. This is how I view a game of commander: The actions of my opponents, and even to a certain extent the performance of my deck, are forces of nature. The sun will shine when it needs to shine and the clouds will rain when they need to rain. My deck will perform when it needs to perform, and windows of opportunity will open when they need to open. If the sun doesn't shine today then it wasn't meant to shine today. If I don't win a game then I wasn't meant to win that game. This philosophy is why I include cards like Burning Inquiry and Gamble, even though they will **** me over at some point or another. And certainly with this deck, win or lose, it is the easiest deck to have a good time with that I have ever played.
1 Reverberate
1 Past in Flames
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Insult // Injury
1 Mirrorpool
1 Petrified Field
1 primal wellspring
Ok so the set up goes like this (It assumes all these cards are in your hand and that Mirrorpool, Petrified Field, and Primal Wellspring are on the battlefield): Attack with a creature --> cast Howl of the Horde off of Primal Wellspring --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. At this point you have 8 copies of Insult active, but the fun doesn't stop there. Petrified Field targeting Mirrorpool and playing it as your land for turn --> Past in Flames --> Howl of the Horde --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. This gets you another 6 copies of Insult for a total of 14. Because math your damage is now multiplied by 2^14 or 16,384. Cast yourself a humble little Lightning Bolt and all of the sudden you've just delivered 49,152 volts straight to the sorry sorry nipples of your unwitting opponent.
This is the deck for now, I will update the thread with games as I play them, and cards as I change them in and out of the deck. Any and all suggestions are welcome, and I encourage you to post your list, so we can compare and contrast and see what others are doing.
Assuming you want to spend some money on things, Skred is probably usually an upgrade over Lightning Bolt with the exception that you can't hit walkers with it but the downside is investing in snow lands. Still, it might be something you might want to consider but the cost of such an upgrade can be spendy as Snow-Covered Mountains seem to be about $3 each these days.
Wild Ricochet is something I have always questioned too. It can be a useful card but most of the time its just Fork / Reverberate with a tagged on very niche situation that may be useful vs Naturalize effects. My issue has always been that keeping 4 mana up for several turns in a row with the maybe clause that you might need to redirect one of these in a deck that is not a draw go type of deck. When I am playing Squee I very often don't sit on 4 mana left over because with that much mana I can probably cycle Squee another time instead. I think that Wild Ricochet and in general 4+ mana instants that are reactive are at their best in a deck that plans to sit behind mana when it passes its turn. I say this from the standpoint of how I play my own list though which often involves me purging almost all of my mana every turn if I can help it.
Anger - I don't all that often second guess Anger but the way I see it in this list is that it seems to only really help two creatures in your list whom seem to be Goblin Sharpshooter and Krenko, Mob Boss. What if instead you were to run Vedalken Orrery in that slot allowing you to play at instant speed and thus kind of bypass the need for haste? You could also run lands such as Flamekin Village or Hanweir Battlements which could give you that very limited spot haste you might want to pick up. Winding Canyons could also help provide spot flash in a land slot too if you want. I guess my question is in how many cases does Anger help your deck to function?
Burning Inquiry - I love this card because it is so chaotic and it really messes with people's hands. This said I like it more in decks that utilize cards in graveyards as resources as well like say Kess, Dissident Mage. Given the random elements of it I wonder if it really works out all that well here.
Trash for Treasure - this card is so narrow is my issue. What artifact are you trying to keep in play and what do you think is your chance of having drawn and lost said artifact already? My issue I guess is that half of your artifacts don't seem like I would bother recovering them and so the number of artifacts you would want to recover seems to be maybe 6-10 and then there is the question of with your artifact count can you manage to get another artifact you feel is less useful and use another card to swap them? Ultimately I am left asking why this isn't Goblin Welder at least which is a card with more uses ultimately as you can swap opponents artifacts too. Personally I would rather get away from this effect entirely though as it seems too situational if you ask me.
I won't bother putting plugs for cards I run as clearly you saw our list
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[Modern] Allies
Yeah it's a little pricy to go snow-lands, I would probably focus on finishing out the deck first. But also pointing lightning bolts to the face is fun. One of my most satisfying wins came from insult --> reverberate --> past in flames --> insult --> reverberate --> lightning bolt. Which if my math is correct should do 48 straight to the face.
I think you're right about this one. While it is trying to be a spellslinger storm list I certainly don't think it's a draw-go spellslinger storm list. I would like to get Fork in there but it's pretty pricey so until I get one I'll probably replace Wild Ricochet with Doublecast from m19.
Another card that's on the chopping block. The orrery is probably the most natural replacement, but again it's pretty pricey so I might substitute with something else for the time being. The lands are great suggestions, and my mana base in general is something I'll have to look over. Jaya was heavily focused on Valakut, but with cutting down on artifacts a lot of the cards that made it work well are going. I'm gonna look at it and retool it here soon.
I think a very under-looked aspect of this card is that it can really mess up your opponent's plans. Also dropping it T1 can be hilarious - as long as you don't mind potentially getting hated out that game. Also in this deck there are as many things as I can jam to make stuff like gamble so I figure this card might be worth a slot as well. Also I believe in the heart of the cards :p.
Another card on the chopping block, left over from the artifact centric Jaya list. Hopefully here soon enough I'll be ordering a nice little pile of cards to retool the list with and take out some of the outdated ones.
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[Modern] Allies
3 player FFA, I win the die roll and turn order is myself then Baral, Chief of Compliance, then Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. I mostly play lands and pass, ramping a little bit with Burnished Hart. I get an early Skullclamp but not much else happens in the early game. Kozilek lands his commander on turn four which is scary, he feels a little bad so he targets Baral's Darksteel Ingot instead of blowing anything up. I cast disrupt decorum to avoid getting annihilated, and Baral fires off Saheeli's Artistry on Kozilek to get a blocker and blows up something on Kozilek's bord. On Kozilek's turn he swings his commander at baral thanks to disrupt decorum, and baral sac's some stuff. At this point I'm feeling a bit outgunned, I play squee and hope for the best. Luckily Baral swings his Kozilek token into Kozilek, but it gets Mystifying Mazeed. Baral fires off a Cyclonic Rift returning Kozilek to hand. I Shattering Spree some artifacts to keep Kozilek off commander mana, and we stall him for long enough. Baral is pretty stuck on lands and at some point I'm able to cast Final Fortune Reverberateed with Glorious End in hand to not die to the first extra turn. I get a pretty high storm count and cast Empty the Warrens for 18 goblins, on my next turns I'm able to land Neheb, the Eternal and thanks to him and Mana Geyser I have plenty of mana to go off. I land a Caged Sun to pump the gobos,, and the last obstacle is baral's Propaganda which I take care of with Liquimetal Coating and a Past In Flames'ed Shattering spree, allowing me to swing for the win.
After the game I picked up a Jaya's Immolating Inferno and swapped out Torpor Orb for it.
Also made it to a card shop a bit further out of town that had a much better selection of singles and picked up about 10 cards for the deck. Lets start with the cards that are coming out:
Trash for Treasure Basically for all the reasons noted by Pathfinder above. It's pretty narrow especially with this deck moving away from artifact strategies towards more of a storm list.
Heirloom Blade I'm not sure about this cut. It's janky but it's also card advantage in mono red. It can be useful to get goblins out of the deck which often play important roles in our plan. Hopefully I'll get my hands on a Goblin Matron soon enough though and that should be a good substitute.
Anger Again for basically all the reasons stated by Pathfinder above. It can sometimes help with an Empty the Warrens kill, but I think it's usage is too narrow to include in this deck. Which is weird because anger is a mainstay of many a mono-red list, just not this one I suppose.
Goblin Diplomats I really like this art and flavor text but honestly there's not a whole lot more justification for this card in the 99. I mean it does a thing, I just don't know how useful that thing is going to be. He might come back later because he hasn't really come up in any of my games, but we'll see.
Liquimetal Coating Just a bit too narrow. Maybe if I had a few more destroy artifact effects, but with only Shattering Spree, and Vandalblast it's not great. It has been nice to take care of a few problem enchantments, but I think for now I'm just going to have to rely on Karn Liberated and Chaos Warp. It might make a return when I grab a copy of Goblin Trashmaster from m19 but we'll see.
Wild Ricochet Pathfinder was pretty spot on with this one as well, I was kinda using it as just another doubling effect. Not really the kind of deck where we want to be holding up 4 mana. It might make a return but it's also very possible it won't.
Jar of Eyeballs This was a hard cut. It's jank, but it's card advantage jank. I think it's just a bit too clunky to be a part of the 99 though, and in this day and age even mono red has better sources of card advantage than the ole eyeball counters.
Howl of the Horde I had planned to add Doublecast from m19, when it launched but then I found this card while thumbing through the junk box at the card shop. It seems really good especially because Squee does not mind sacrificing himself to the greater good of a Raid trigger in order to get the full effect of this card. More doubling effects are always nice in this list thanks to how they interact with Insult // Injury which is one of my favorite finishers.
Recoup another card I found in the junk box. Testing it out here, I don't know if it's going to stay, especially with it's restriction to only sorceries, but it seems pretty good. Another card that interacts with the graveyard well, and another card the turns on gamble even when gamble is my last card in hand.
Heat Shimmer, one strategy that's really impressed me is Flayer of the Hatebound especially when I can combine it with Mirrorpool, and this gives me another opportunity to do that, as well as one that can be reverberated. It can also copy opponent's creatures, which is a great up-side.
Tormenting Voice More looting! Another card I've wanted for a minute.
Commune with Lava A card I've wanted to test for a long time, and this seems like the list for it. The cards last until the end of your next turn, so you can either instant speed this on the end step before your turn, or you can do something silly like Mana Geyser into this, then Final Fortune and probably win the game on your extra turn.
Indomitable Creativity Another card I've wanted to test for a while. Great for repurposing myr and goblin tokens, as well as squee. In a pinch it can take care of problem creatures and artifacts on my opponent's boards but this is kind of a risky play.
Mindmoil A final card I've wanted to test for a while. With squee and a bunch of mana it lets me cycle through my deck looking for the cards I need. 5 mana for a "do-nothing" enchantment, but it seems good enough to at least warrant some testing.
Goblin Grenade --> Reforge the Soul. I've wanted to test the grenade for a bit, it seems like it could do some work here. Grenade + Insult // Injury is 10 damage which is... alright, but Grenade + Insult + Reverberate and you're at 20 damage, which is getting pretty spicy. Grenade + Insult + Howl of the Horde gets you to 40 which could really take some players out of nowhere. The downside of saccing a goblin isn't really a downside with Squee always eager to hop into the graveyard, and even beyond that in a pinch we have plenty of other volunteers. As far as cutting Reforge goes, I feel that I have enough card draw/advantage (which seems crazy to be saying in a mono red list, but this deck is much less of a "vomit out your hand every turn list" compared to some red lists) and so it was between reforge and Runehorn Hellkite. Hellkite costs a bit more (a lot more if you count having to cast him first, but if you're doing that you're playing the card wrong) but has several upsides. First and foremost, you can activate him at instant speed out of the graveyard, allowing you to take first advantage of the new grips, as opposed to refueling your opponents and then passing the turn to them. Having it in the deck also means Gamble is not a dead card when you late game top-deck it with 0 other cards in hand. And if you really need a flying beater/blocker he does that pretty well too.
Path of Ancestry --> Mountain. Read Lou's post in the main forum and realized this card is pretty good in here. We don't need it for color fixing but getting to scry 1 on every Squee cast would be worth it alone. The fact that we have so many other goblins makes this card more than worth it. ETB tapped is not a huge downside for this deck, and this is only the second land in my list that does so, so I'm really not worried about that.
Game one was me Edric, Spymaster of Trest pretty standard Flying men, and a Tasigur, the Golden Fang control deck. Things proceed as normal, Edric amasses a pretty scary board state but he keeps hitting Tasigur, I have a Goblin Warchief on the field and Topdeck a Goblin Sharpshooter which leads to wiping the Edric players board. Possibly the most satisfying topdeck I could've gotten lol. At some point I land Karn Liberated and looking at my hand, which contains Final Fortune and Glorious End I decide to go for it. With the help of Izzet Chemister and Goblin Dark-Dwellers I manage to chain together extra turns to Ultimate Karn at which point my opponents scoop and we go to the next game.
Game Two was close, same players but Tasigur switches to Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer stax/pillowforty. We stay alive for a bit but Edric gets too many fliers and takes an extra turn or two which ends up killing us.
Game three was pretty memetic (of or pertaining to memes) Where gwafa lands a Sphinx's Tutelage on turn four that sticks around for the remainder of the game. Things happen, board states get scary, things are milled. At some point I receive the turn with three cards left in my library, and both my opponents completely tapped out. Past in Flames --> Mana Geyser --> Squee, the Immortal --> Jaya's Immolating Inferno for 34. Lucked into that win.
Goblinslide --> Genesis Chamber. The chamber benefits opponents a little too much. While 1 mana on each of your non-creature spells is a bit of a tax, this card interacts better with Krenko, Mob Boss who I am finding to be very threatening if opponents can't/don't deal with him. When m19 releases I am also hoping to pick up a copy of Desecrated Tomb which will still allow me to get token value off of casting Squee, without benefiting opponents.
Ignite Memories --> Starstorm. Found myself cycling starstorm a lot and wanted another storm payoff besides Empty the Warrens. While, on account of cmc, grapeshot is probably always better, I believe in the heart of the cards. And plus Ignite memories leads to some very climatic wins I feel.
Goblin Matron --> Wayfarer's Bauble. The bauble was much better when this deck's endgame reach was heavily focused on Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, now that that's not the case, I find myself not liking this card as much. The deck isn't super thirsty for land drops/ramp and so I am comfortable pulling this one out. Matron is nice as an additional copy of all my goblins, fetching up pieces as needed. Will also be nice after m19 launches when I can add Goblin Trashmaster as well as Dark-Dweller Oracles.
I got some testing in with Mindmoil as well. There is definite power there, but it is also incredibly hard to play well, I might end up taking it out but I want to get in more testing before I decide.
Commune with Lava has been incredible, routinely allowing me to dig 15+ cards into my deck and finish off games I shouldn't otherwise be able to win.
Howl of the Horde and Recoup have been preforming exactly as I hoped they would, adding repetition to the copy spell and graveyard interaction packages respectively.
Indomitable Creativity has been nice the couple times I've cast it though I feel it's true power has not quite been tested/reached yet. It doesn't interact particularly well with reverberate effects, but I want to keep it in as I add effects like Goblinslide and Desecrated Tomb. Might end up getting cut at some point but we'll see.
Some interesting thoughts. I might have to see if I can make some room at some point to try out Commune with Lava.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
I'd definitely recommend testing Commune, though there are definite tricks to making it work.
Moil is really interesting, with Squee it's nice because you can cycle through your deck without your hand size diminishing each trigger. In magical Christmas land you can cycle your hand for one red mana (squee + skirk prospector + a cost reducer) however, in general this is going to cost a lot of manna and this list isn't the big mana red deck it once was so I might have to cut it. Again though I would like to get more testing in as it is a very powerful effect imo.
Goblin Trashmaster --> Vandalblast Trashmaster is repeatable artifact destruction that can also act as a sac outlet for Squee. Can also be tutored up with Matron. The cut was between vandalblast and Shattering Spree, I decided to cut Blast because in my meta I don't often want to cast spree for more than five mana anyway.
Dark-Dweller Oracle --> Mindmoil Oracle seems really good. Repeatable sac outlet that can eat anything, not just goblins, and generates us card advantage. I'm getting enough of these "impulse draw" effects that I might look into adding a Top or Rack at some point. Mindmoil has proved too difficult to play around. It can dig you very deep, especially with the ability to free trigger it with Squee but it's difficult to use well.
Darksteel Ingot --> Hedron Archive Ingot interacts well with Trashmaster, and also adds colorless mana. I've been wanting a cheaper artifact to replace Archive for a minute and with the addition of trashmaster, ingot seems like the move.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
EDIT: Well that was a lot of fun to throw together:
1 Squee, the Immortal
Creature
1 Goblin Recruiter
1 Goblin Matron
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Goblin Welder
1 Imperial Recruiter
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Priest of Urabrask
1 Dualcaster Mage
1 Young Pyromancer
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Guttersnipe
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Dark-Dweller Oracle
1 Zada, Hedron Grinder
1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Neheb, the Eternal
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
Enchantment
1 Price of Glory
1 Mana Echoes
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Curse of Opulence
Land
1 Winding Canyons
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Vesuva
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Path of Ancestry
17 Mountain
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Lotus Petal
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Skullclamp
1 Gemstone Array
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
1 Isochron Scepter
Instant
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Seething Song
1 Reiterate
1 Crimson Wisps
1 Pyretic Ritual
1 Reverberate
1 Chaos Warp
1 Increasing Vengeance
1 Battle Hymn
1 Desperate Ritual
1 Commune with Lava
1 Comet Storm
Sorcery
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Winds of Change
1 Gamble
1 Seize the Day
1 Mana Geyser
1 Shattering Spree
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Heat Shimmer
1 Past in Flames
1 Faithless Looting
1 Krenko's Command
1 Twinflame
1 Tempt with Vengeance
1 Howl of the Horde
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Fiery Confluence
1 Mizzix's Mastery
1 Shreds of Sanity
1 Cathartic Reunion
1 Insult // Injury
1 Hazoret's Undying Fury
1 Pirate's Pillage
1 Bonus Round
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Jaya Ballard
I did not have a copy of either Glorious End or Final Fortune(or its variants) lying around so I went with a different form of Mono-R Hail Mary in the form of the top of this decks curve Hazoret's Undying Fury
Also rather than Krenko, Mob Boss I opted for Zada, Hedron Grinder who when combined with TwinFlame Heat Shimmer or Crimson Wisps can really make some magic happen (I couldn't find a spot for Kari Zev's Expertise but it would be lots of fun)
Also a side not Zada + Seize the Day is typically only used in a deck with more colors that can provide Vigilance to make a lot of combats very good however if you also have Neheb, the Eternal it will create mana of an excessive degree.
Gemstone Array filters all the Mana Echoes mana that should be generated into a color that can be used better
And I made room for some more copies including Bonus Round and stuff like Mizzix's Mastery
Math Corner
Fiery Confluence by itself deals 6 damage to all opponents therefore alone it requires 7 copies to kill the table.
Insult // Injury makes that 12 and thus it will take 4 copies to do the job
Bonus Round cast before both of those is enough by itself to make it lethal
Meaning
3 Cards in Hand and 5RRRRR is a dead board from an empty board, also possible to hit all 3 of these off of a Hazoret's Undying Fury
I want to go through and update this thread but I've been pretty busy with school recently. I have found a spot for bonus round though because the card is ridiculous haha.